Broken Bass string

[Avery Todd]

Hi David,

   My condolences. I've had a few similar situations in my checkered past.

>Small Full Gospel Pentecostal Church
>
>Energetic Music, including piano, drums, bass guitar, electric guitar,
>keyboard and about 6 singers.  Large 18 or 24 track mixer with lots of
>preamps, amplifiers and several large  loudspeakers.  Piano has a two part
>microphone, on part attaches to the plate, one part attaches to the
>soundboard, don't know brand name).

   One thing here is to make sure the pianist has a monitor speaker
situated, and volume adjusted, so as to be sure the pianist can hear VERY
well. That can usually help the pianist to not strike the keys so hard in
order to be heard over everything else.

>Hammers shaped nicely, about a half day's worth of regulation, softened
>hammers considerably, adjusted sustain pedal so as not to lift the dampers
>very far.  (Music is usually played only in about 4 or 5 keys, and the
>hammers are wearing excessively for the notes corresponding to those keys.
>Hammers for the white notes are excessively worn, hammers for sharp and
>flat notes are barely worn.)

   I know what you were trying for but did you perhaps soften the hammers
*too* much for the size of the auditorium? This might cause the pianist to
play even harder to get the volume level back up.

>I did a fairly good quick regulation of the action, setting let-off at
>about 3/16" in hopes that this would help stop broken strings.

   You might also try decreasing the hammer blow distance to decrease the
power the hammers build up before they strike the strings.

>(I did this hammer shaping and regulation on my own time, in hopes that I
>could help the church out and learn something for myself as well.  Hey, I
>was a beginner, I was learning, I know now how to do the work and don't do
>free work anymore, unless the situation truly does warrant it and my wife
>and I discuss the situation first.)

   I imagine a lot of us did free work somewhere in the earlier part of our
careers. I know I did. In a dealers shop & retail store.

>I set the damper pedal to lift the dampers a minimal amount, in hopes that
>this would help stop broken strings.

   I don't understand how that would help. Usually, in addition to the
power with which the keys are struck, repetitive blows on the same notes
with the sustain pedal held down contributes a lot to this type of string
breakage.
   Jim Coleman, Sr. (I think it was) mentioned (and explained) this just a
few days ago in relation to another post similar to yours.

>I don't believe the problem is with the piano, or the replacement strings,
>the hammers, or the regulation.  I believe the problem can be isolated to
>the pianist, whom I have never seen play.  What possible piano technique
>can this pianist be using to enable them to break strings so frequently?
>If I go to a worship service there to observe the pianist, what should I
>look for?

   You're probably correct with the above statement. About all that can be
done in situations like this is to compromise the regulation in order to
decrease power and be sure the pianist has a monitor to enable him/her to
hear what they're playing. Unless, of course, you can convince the pianist
to change the way he/she plays. :-)

>Thanks for any replies!

   Wish I could be more help. Maybe someone else will come up with some
other ideas.

>David Vanderhoofven
>Joplin, Missouri

   Best of luck to you. Those are very frustrating situations, I know.

Avery

___________________________
Avery Todd, RPT
Moores School of Music
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-4893
713-743-3226
atodd@uh.edu
http://www.music.uh.edu/